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Archive for October, 2007

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease: Lavender (2 balls); White (1 ball); Black (4 balls). I really wanted to use up all of my old cotton ease (original colors). I learned to knit with that lavender! It was like, the first yarn I bought when learning to knit (I knit 10 rows of knitting, 10 rows of purling, 10 rows of stockinette; 10 rows of 1×1 ribbing; 10 rows of 2×2 ribbing, bound off and then cast on for a sweater). Anyway. It was clear I wasn’t going to have enough lavender, so I added the stripes at the elbows. I meant for it to be higher on the arm, and probably would have made that middle part a little thicker (three rows black, two lavender, three black, probably).

Mods: Seamless! I did the sleeves in the round, then when I joined the body I did it with intarsia. Only one little problem area (I won’t point it out to you. I think it’s pretty obvious, though. Consider it a find Waldo puzzle). Overall I enjoyed doing it this way, although it was like wrangling an octopus (ball of black; ball of lavender; ball of black; ball of lavender; ball of black). It was my first intarsia. I’m not sure I like intarsia enough to make a design in a shirt or something, but I like it for raglan cardigan sleeves. I made the sleeves a touch longer than I wanted – but I’d still rather they be too long than too short. Keeps my wrists warm.

There’s a YellowPages ad featuring an Ektorp two seater with the same slipcover as my chair. Everytime I see the ad, I think it’s for Ikea (I’ve been considering buying that same couch for several months).

Anyway.

I’ve been knitting (and purling) away on Wicked. Have you ever wondered what one ball of Tess Superwash Merino Worsted will get you? Well, let me answer:

Maybe I should have worn a light colored shirt. Maybe another inch or so of ribbing, then an inch of cable rib. Then the button band and sleeves. I feel like it’s taking forever, but it hasn’t really – I cast on the 14th of October and I’ve already finished 560 yards.

I have really mixed feelings on the Tess yarn. The yardage is out of this world. The put up was amazing. I wound BOTH balls in under 10 minutes. Not a snag to be had. The subtle variation is amazing:

There’s just the one down side to the yarn:

My hands are a fun shade of purple-y blue. It’s part of the reason I’m trying to finish this project right away – I’m tired of having blue hands. As soon as I’m done I’m going to find some super scrubbing soap and get this off. There was a note with the yarn that there may be some color transfer. Some transfer is an understatement. I just feel like it could have gone through a better pre-rinse. The good news is that I washed my swatch and it didn’t fade at all. So that’s good.

Finally found my camera cable (which wasn’t the fast part – it was wedged in between my couch and an end table). Which means I can start showing things off. Yay for being a show off!

On Monday, Rebecca sent me a note that the latest limited edition Lorna’s Laces colors were available at jimmybeanswool.com – November’s color is Autumn Leaves. I ordered it and it shipped on Monday – and it was waiting for me when I got home tonight!

I would kind of like to know where autumn leaves are purple, but I’ll let it go.

I also ordered another ball of amethyst stripe, so I can make full size socks, not just footies:

Plus, they sent me my favorite candies! It’s like they read my mind! I love the pineapple ones!

And not from JimmyBean’s, but Jess [blogless] gave me sock yarn:

In the event that I misplace my camera again, I’ll save the pictures of my finally finished Ribby Cardi and Wicked for tomorrow or something. I know you’re all eagerly waiting :-)

I went out and I bought a great new camera, and I’ve managed to upload like one day’s worth of photos before I managed to loose the cord to connect the camera to the computer.

You should see my Wicked! It’s looking great. And my seamless yoke – I’m over half done with the torso! I have these great new socks – Embossed Leaves -in some stashed Socks that Rock that has the greatest subtle shading.

Okay camera gremlins, you’ve had your fun. Bring it back!! I want to take pictures of my herringbone hat.

I had been seriously doubting that I’d go to Stitches this year, but then a whole big host of things drove me to it. Actually, my blogless friend Stephanie drove me to it, but in a different way.

Traffic getting out of DC was a horrible, horrible mess. It took us two whole hours to get from Stephanie’s house in Arlington to the parking lot in Baltimore. It’s like, Baltimore is taunting me even when I’m not going for work everyday!

I guess I usually think Magknits is nice, but doesn’t really have anything truely innovative. Nice, clean, sometimes a little random. But this – this really impresses me, and I can’t wait to try it out!